There are known in the art many different mechanisms for adjusting the location of a cutting insert secured in an insert pocket. Some of these mechanisms can be used for machining at high operating speeds. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,716,167 describes a milling cutter having an adjustment mechanism. This cutter has a certain disadvantage in terms of adjustment accuracy, the radial centrifugal forces stressing the tool may cause displacement of the cartridge securing the insert. From FIG. 2 it can be seen that the screws for adjusting the cartridge have a radial component. This geometric characteristic is best avoided when the tool operates at high speeds since even a small radial component of the centrifugal force may be large enough to cause inaccuracies.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,086,290 utilizes a cartridge holding a cutting insert. Both the cutting insert and the cartridge have an elongated securing bore and a corresponding screw used to secure and adjust the location of the cutting insert or the cartridge. The adjustment mechanism also provides a method of adjusting the orientation of the cartridge with an abutting adjustment screw at the lower surface of the cartridge. At least two of the screws have a fairly large radial component allowing centrifugal forces to possibly cause inaccuracies.
The abovementioned adjustment mechanisms require that at least one threaded bore drilled into the tool body. This prevents the use of tool bodies made, for example, from aluminum since an aluminum based thread is significantly weaker in comparison to, and for example, steel based threads. Furthermore, having to drill threaded bores into the tool body increases the complexity of production, and consequently, the production costs.